Perfection
by AdmiralCole22
Summary: Cynder contemplates her reflection and what it means. Very short one-shot.


**AN: I had this idea stuck in my head for the last few days, so I decided to just write it down for you guys. It's a really short one-shot and it's nothing special, but I thought someone might like it.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own the Original Series, Legend Series, Skylanders, or any other rendition of Spyro.**

Perfection

When Spyro awoke to a new day, he noticed a distinct lack of warmth that signified the absence of his mate. Where was Cynder? He opened his eyes and looked around their bedroom and noticed she wasn't there.

Seeing as how it would be pointless to continue laying there, he decided to get up and search the rest of their apartment. It had been given to the both of them fifteen years ago when they had returned to Warfang after defeating the Dark Master. Since many buildings in the city had been damaged during the war, there weren't many places left for the two of them to live. They decided, then, to share an apartment.

It had two bedrooms and they had originally slept alone, but it didn't take long before the two of them decided to get closer by sleeping together. Merely two years after the war, they had officially joined together as mates. By then, Sparx had decided to leave the two of them live their own lives. He still came by from time to time, but with his parents' increasing age, Sparx had started coming less and less.

The apartment itself wasn't overly big, but that was the way the two of them liked it. They didn't want to be treated as anything special. They just wanted to live like any normal citizen of Warfang. The bedroom that they shared was originally just Spyro's room which connected to the living space. She wasn't there, so he decided to check in Cynder's old room which was the only other room in their apartment. It was on the opposite side of the living space.

He peeked in the door and noticed Cynder sitting there looking intently into a mirror. _That's odd,_ he thought but paid it no further mind. He prepared some breakfast over the fire pit in the center of the living room and when he was done eating decided to check up on Cynder. She was still sitting in the same spot looking into the mirror.

He furrowed his brow in confusion but ultimately decided to ask her about it when he came back later today. He always went and spoke to the guardians for a short while every morning just in case they needed him for something. They almost never did, but it was something he didn't plan on changing since it gave him an opportunity to do two things. First, he got an early morning flight. Second, he got to speak to dragons that he considered both friends and mentors.

It took longer than it usually did since the guardians actually did have something for him today. There was an encampment of bandits that were preying on traders in the mountains to the west that no one could find. They had asked Spyro if he and Cynder could go and check it out. He agreed. It's not like they had anything better to do. The guardians paid for all of their necessities for them saving the world. It had been their idea, not his, to begin with and they wouldn't be talked down from it, so he had agreed—albeit reluctantly.

When he had gotten back to their apartment, he found Cynder in the exact same spot as when he left. Now he was worried. He walked into the room and sat down next to her, "Cynder, are you okay?" he asked concernedly.

She replied without looking over to him, "Why wouldn't I be?"

Spyro opened his mouth before closing it and furrowing his brow in confusion. After a moment he finally did speak, "Because you've been sitting here staring at your reflection for almost three hours?"

She actually did look at him, "Really? What time is it?" She looked out the window and noticed that the sun was almost at its zenith. "I think its been more like five at this point."

Spyro's eyes opened wide in surprise. She had said it like there was nothing wrong with staring at your reflection for five hours straight. Her behavior was abnormal, and it was starting to scare him. He didn't let it show in his voice, however, he wanted her to speak the truth and not what he wanted to hear. "May I ask why?"

"I'm thinking," was her simple reply as she looked back to her reflection. They were both silent for a minute before she spoke again. "Maybe you can help me. Look at my reflection and tell me what you see."

He complied. After looking at her reflection for a solid sixty seconds, he replied jokingly, "I see my mate looking as beautiful as ever." He smirked over to her but noticed her expression was anything but what he expected. She was actually scowling at him. "Uhh…"

"I'm being serious, Spyro. What do you see when you look at me? Who do I look like?" She had spoken forcefully yet there was an underlying tone that he hadn't heard from her in a long time: Anxiety.

Cynder still struggled with her past from time to time, but she hadn't had a serious breakdown for almost a year now. He had hoped she had finally gotten past it, but it seemed like something had brought it back to the surface. "Cynder," he said, every ounce of humor replaced with seriousness, "You are not her. You aren't the 'Terror of the Skies' just like I'm not the 'Purple Dragon of Prophecy.'"

She looked back to the mirror, "But I am, aren't I?" She shook her head, "That's not what I was talking about, though. What do I look like to you?"

Spyro was perplexed to say the least and extremely worried at most but decided to play along for now. He stared at her for five minutes, taking in every detail from the tip of her muzzle to the tip of her tail. Then he did the same to her reflection. They were exactly the same.

Maybe she wasn't talking about differences and he was overthinking this. Maybe she was asking how he would describe her, so he said, "Beautiful."

"Beautiful," she repeated as she shook her head slightly. "Is it still beauty if all of it is fake?"

Spyro flinched back like he had been slapped, "What do you mean its fake!? You look real enough to me!"

"There's no need to yell, Spyro." She looked at him for a moment before looking back to the mirror. "But the word I was looking for was…perfect." Spyro cocked his head in confusion. "With every dragoness I've seen, they have all had at least one physical flaw—even the most beautiful ones, yet no matter how long I look at my reflection, I can't find mine. Why?"

"What are you getting at, Cynder? Isn't being perfect a good thing?" he was genuinely confused at this point. "Where is all of this coming from?"

"Every detail about my body—from my horns, my claws, my scales, the color of my eyes, down to my perfect musculature or the seemingly professional precision of every curve, crack, and crevice on my body—is…perfect. How can any dragoness be hatched perfect?" Cynder looked over to him with genuine curiosity.

"Maybe you were just blessed by the ancestors," he replied.

"Was it a blessing? Or was I created to be this way?" The first hint of moisture started building up behind her eyes. "Was I meant to look like this?" She added the last part in a whisper so quiet, Spyro had to strain his ears to pick it up. The first tear had fallen by this point.

Spyro was dumbstruck. When he woke up this morning, this was the last thing he would've expected. This had come about so suddenly that he was still trying to catch up. Usually she bragged about her good looks. What had changed? Regardless of what it was, he wrapped his wing around her to try and comfort her. She took a deep breath, looked at him, and smiled sadly. "Tell me what's wrong, Cynder. Please," he begged her. It hurt him to see her like this.

"You were right earlier, though. I do look like 'her.' Malefor made me that way when I was young, yet my adult self looks almost exactly like my dark form. He expected to be freed that night, Spyro. What if he made me look like he wanted me to? What if I was meant to be his?" Her resolve was starting to crack again.

Spyro knew he had to say something, but what? She had never, NEVER even thought about being his before. Did someone say something to her? "Listen, Cynder, regardless of what 'he' meant for you, that all became pointless the night I freed you. Your life doesn't revolve around 'what ifs.' It revolves around the choices you make every day. Your life is your own to live, no one else's."

She nodded sadly, "I know, Spyro, but the dream I had last night shook me a bit." At his questioning look, Cynder decided to elaborate, "I dreamed that I had woken up in my old lair and Malefor was there. He said you and the guardians had been hunted down and killed. He said every dragon in the world had been killed. When I asked why I was still alive, he said 'I created you to serve me. Why would I destroy that which is mine?'" She paused and took a deep breath before speaking again, "That's why I woke up so early and have been sitting here for five hours. I was just looking for possible answers."

"Did you find any?" asked Spyro.

Cynder smirked before leaning over and kissing Spyro who didn't hesitate to return it. It was deep and full of their love for the other. When they broke for air, she spoke once more, "I think I did."

**AN: Hope you liked it. Read and review if you wish.**

**Until Next Time**

**AdmiralCole22**


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